CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland FBI's special agent in charge tried to encourage agents and staff in an email he sent after President Donald Trump fired James Comey as the bureau's director in May.

Steve Anthony said he didn't have much information to share about Comey's ouster on May 9, according to the email he sent to staff the next day. However, "we will of course continue to do the great work the citizens of Northern Ohio deserve and expect of us," Anthony wrote.

The email was one of several published Monday by Lawfare Blog, a legal analysis website run by the Brookings Institution think tank, in a story that sought to show that Trump and his administration lied after Comey's firing in saying that agents had lost confidence in its director. The blog's authors said it received the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The emails appear to show that the decision to fire Comey was met with shock and dismay from the officials in charge of FBI offices across the nation, according to the blog.

In Cleveland, Anthony wrote that he knew many people wanted more information about Comey's firing and were curious about who would get his job -- a job that later went to Christopher Wray.

He said he may have more information at a later date.

"Thanks as always for everything you and your families do each and every day for our great organization," Anthony wrote.

In Cincinnati, Special Agent in Charge Angela Byers conveyed the surprise a bit more in an email she sent May 9 to agents working in southern Ohio. But her message tried to be just as encouraging as Anthony's.

"Despite the surprise and changes the organization will go through, we need to continue to provide strong, stable leadership both internally as well as for our law enforcement partners and remain professional," Byers wrote. "If I learn anything further, I will share that information."

Criticisms of the FBI and the Justice Department has reached a sort of fever pitch in recent weeks. Trump and other Republicans have seized on a series of text messages sent between two agents involved in an investigation into Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 election.

They have also questioned motives behind an ongoing investigation into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russian government, which began as an FBI probe and is now the hands of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. A memo unclassified Friday written by Republican lawmakers called into question the facts the Justice Department presented to a federal judge to continue surveillance of Carter Page, an adviser to the Trump campaign.

This article was corrected to reflect the correct spelling of Steve Anthony's name.